This invention relates to a system of ionized oxygen allotrope gas livestock waste deodorization and method and apparatus therefore, and more particularly, a system of, and a method and apparatus therefore that generates multiple (multivalent) oxygen ion charged forms for treated livestock waste, as for deodorization purposes, in which the treating agent employed is atmospheric oxygen in the ambient air. More specifically, a basic feature of the invention is to continuously draw an ambient air flow into the system and process same, to concurrently energy transform and ionize the atmospheric oxygen therein to form stable and highly energized multivalent oxygen allotrope ions in oxidant gaseous form that are conveyed to and continuously applied to the livestock waste being treated by interspersing the air flow involved therein, for elimination by oxidation and/or flocculation of the contaminants and other undesirable materials contained in same, by the oxygen allotrope ions; with the remaining components of the air returning harmlessly to the atmosphere.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,933, herein incorporated by reference, discloses a livestock waste purification arrangement which uses as the water treating agent ionized oxygen allotrope gas in multiple (multivalent) ion charge forms.
Aside from water purification systems of the filtration and/or integrated ion exchange membrane process type, the vast majority of water purification technology utilized at the present time is concerned with a broad application spectrum of a wide variety of chemical additive type water treatment processes, a number of which are oxidizing or descaling agents, as distinguished from oxygen or its allotropes, and all of which are not available from the ambient air or natural locale of the water to be treated. Traditional chemical treatment of water has involved a wide variety of industrially formulated chemical substances for disinfection, descaling, detoxification, sterilization, flocculation, or anticoagulation applications or purposes. Purification chemicals commonly may take any one of the three physical states, solids, liquids or gases, and range from complex chemical formulations to highly active elemental substances, such as the halogens. These various chemical compounds or substances for water purification purposes have dramatic chemical structural differences one from another, depending on whether they are categorized, as, for instance, biocides, algacides, fungacides, scale inhibitors, descalers, de-emulsificrs, coagulants, coalescents, flocculants, de-toxicants, surfactants, disinfectants, etc. The material of each such category is also subdivided into several sub-groups with regard to individual chemical strength and reactive oxidizing potentials per solubility limits for chemical water saturation.
In any event, the basic inherent problems associated with water treatment using formulated chemicals has been historically one of “too little or too much” or synergistic inter-reactions that produce new chemical compounds that are corrosive or dangerous. Further, the solubility and reactivity of the chemical additive often changes with water temperature changes; reactivity may be further affected by minor water chemistry natural shifts in acidity-alkalinity values as well as by chemical additive neutralization interaction with other foreign contaminant chemical substances.
Furthermore, it is all too common place that the chemical treatment additive prescribed for a particular problem will have an adverse reaction and be incompatible with other chemical treatment additives or even some of the contaminants in the water system, resulting in no real benefit and often having some deleterious affect on water quality, as well as the possibility of adversely affecting the health of the users of the water.
It is well recognized that the treatment of water with chemicals for purification and related purposes, while widely employed for this purpose in quite a number of different applications, is well known to be an inexact science, with the chemicals themselves often being questioned as the possible source of health problems, such as the causing of cancer, and the like.
On the other hand, water treatment systems that do not involve the addition or use of chemicals as such, but rather employ gaseous ozone obtained from the ambient air, which are of the so-called non-chemical type, have experienced only modest success and acceptance. While the injection of gaseous ozone in neutral molecular form into public drinking water supplies for the purpose of disinfection and purification has been an acceptable practice in Europe since the turn of the Century, and on account of the recognized oxidizing activity of neutral ozone gas, increasing number of applications of it have been made, wider use for all applications has been prevented because of the expense of ozone production, particularly in large volumes. Conventionally large volume ozone gas production is accomplished by employing expensive high voltage electric discharge equipment, such as 10,000 volt corona discharge generators, in which atmospheric oxygen is converted into neutral ozone gas molecules within an intense electrical discharge electromagnetic arc zone. Corona generators are known to have excessive power consumption requirements; further, the maintenance requirements of this type of equipment are excessive in that constant repair service is required on the anode-cathode electrodes along with constant servicing of the dehumidifying air dryer and dessicating units. Also, large municipal and industrial ozone systems require additional costly cooling tower equipment to relieve generated heat. While small wall hung type corona discharge ozone generating devices have been available since about 1950, their known technical limitations represent real safety concerns due to the relatively high voltage requirements for the generator and the close proximity to the water that is required for the generator. Even in the smaller corona units, high maintenance requirements for the electrode and air drying modules are a continuing problem.
Nevertheless, as neutral ozone is known to be a strong and rapid oxidizing agent, its consideration for use in purification of municipal water supplies has continued. Neutral ozone, however, for rapid purification purposes, requires the delivery of large quantities of the gas for application to the water supply, which, of course, involves large capital expenditures.
While previous systems have employed ionized oxygen allotrope gas to treat water, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method to employ such gas to deodorize livestock waste.